Title:

The Fundamentals of Business-to-Business Sales and Marketing

Author:

John M Coe

Published by:

McGraw Hill

John Coe describes himself as a “salesperson” even though he has developed a successful consulting career and built a company or two. In this book he promotes one main thesis: “The days when sales ruled and delivered results are over.” To this end the book is divided into three areas:

 

1. Diagnosis

Coe begins by outlining the obstacles to successful selling in today’s environment – customers with less time and many more alternatives, increased competition and a more complicated buying process. But the single most important issue is the incompatibility of the “sales” cycle and the “buying” process – specifically, pressures on sales to speed up while the buying process is more time consuming than ever.